Executive Director of Community Relations and Emergency Management for Bloomington (MN) Public Schools (16 years). Manages department of two professionals focused on communications, community relations, marketing and emergency management. Former Executive Director of Public Engagement and Communications for Jefferson County Public Schools, Colorado’s largest school system (1998-2006).
Nationally respected consultant and trainer on emergency management and crisis communications, having worked in public schools and emergency management for more than 30 years.
In 1996, developed the first full-scale active shooter drill in a school setting. Three years later, the unthinkable happened when on April 20, 1999, two students attacked Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 and wounding 26 others. Among the first to arrive on scene, provided emergency triage and rescue operations before assuming co-lead of the Columbine Crisis Response Team. Led all aspects of the communications, media relations and crisis response/recovery efforts. Coordinated President Bill Clinton’s visit to Littleton in the wake of the tragedy, and the annual anniversary events (Years 1-5).
For the past 24 years, have worked with hundreds of school systems, law enforcement and emergency management agencies throughout the U.S. to improve safety and security measures, and emergency response. Provided counsel to Uvalde Public Schools (Robb Elementary), Broward County Public Schools (Stoneman Douglas High School), San Bernardino City Unified School District (North Park Elementary); the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (Timothy McVeigh execution); New York Education Commission and New York City Schools (9/11); U.S. Department of Education, Los Angeles Office of the FBI, Association of State Colleges & Universities, National School Boards Association, Wisconsin Health and Hospital Association, North Carolina and North Dakota Division of Emergency Management agencies, the Minnesota Office of Emergency Preparedness, and the Minnesota School Safety Center. Served a 35-day assignment in Baton Rouge and New Orleans as a FEMA Field Coordinator for PIOs as part of the national response to Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita (2005).
Author of The Complete Crisis Communication Management Manual for Schools (NSPRA, 2016). Served as presenter/panelist/content expert at: MN Criminal Justice Mental Health Summit (2022), MN School Law Conference (2022 & 2019), We Are Columbine: 20 Years Later symposium (2019), Wisconsin School Safety Summit (2015) and former U.S. Senator Al Franken’s School Safety Summit (2014). Keynoted the MN School Boards Association Summer Institute and MN Association of School Personnel Administrators (2018); Campus Safety Conferences (2017); NSBA’s Planning for and Managing the School Crisis webinar following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy; MN Metropolitan Hospital Compact’s Footprint of Disasters symposium; MN School Safety Conference; Midwest Summit on Violence in the Workplace and Schools; Wisconsin Bioterrorism Summit; National Transportation Public Affairs Conference; and Airports Council International – North America.
Directed school communications programs in Wisconsin, Colorado and Minnesota, and served as a special consultant with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction under State Superintendent John Benson. Past-president of the National School Public Relations Association (2002-03), Wisconsin School Public Relations Association (1997), and served as a director with Wisconsin, Colorado and Minnesota state chapters of NSPRA.
Inaugural recipient of the Public Relations Society of America’s Public Relations Professional of the Year (2000). Earned PRSA’s Silver Anvil Award of Excellence, NSPRA’s Gold Medallion five times for excellence in communications programs, MinnSPRA’s Dawn K. McDowell Award, Colorado PRSA’s Gold Pick Award, and is a two-time recipient of the WSPRA President's Award for Outstanding Achievement. Inducted into the Wisconsin Dells High School Distinguished Achievement Hall of Fame (2019) for notable success from extraordinary accomplishments and a career of exceptional professional and humanitarian achievement.
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point (BS). Accredited (APR) by the Public Relations Society of America.
Partner, Linda Quimby, and I are the parents of five children, Kyle (30), Courtney (28), Karly, Whitney and Shelby (26), and grandparents of KJ (5) and Makynlee Rae (1).